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Photo Essay: In Israel, Two Exhibitions Honor Victims, Heroes of Oct. 7
Haim Jelin, the former head of the Eshkol Regional Council and resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, got the date of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel tattooed on his arm. Photo: Erez Kaganovitz
Two exhibitions commemorating survivors and victims of the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas opened ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day on Sunday evening.
The first opened at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem on Thursday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon in attendance. The exhibition, called “06:29- From Darkness to Light” — in reference to the exact moment that Hamas terrorists invaded Israel’s border with Gaza — features personal testimonies from 25 women who went through the horrors of the day that became known as Black Shabbat.
The exhibition’s producer, Malki Shem Tov, is the father of Omer Shem Tov, who is being held hostage in Gaza.
Visitors can walk through mockups of mobile shelters, where recordings of sirens and communication devices used on Oct. 7 can be heard.
Among the featured women are Yasmin Porat, who escaped the Nova music festival to Kibbutz Be’eri, where she was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists; Noam Ben David, who played dead for hours in a dumpster at the Nova festival; 15-year-old Ela Shani, who founded a public diplomacy project in memory of her father Yitzhak, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists, that caught the attention of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone; Ricarda Louk, mother of the late Shani Louk, who was murdered at the Nova festival; Miriam Beit Talmi, a Holocaust survivor from Kibbutz Zikim who was rescued under fire; Chen Almog Goldstein from Kfar Gaza, who was taken captive into Gaza with her children after her daughter and husband were murdered in their home; Mali Shoshana, the commander of the Sderot Police Station on that Saturday; and Lt. Col. Or Ben Yehuda, commander of the Karakal battalion on the Egyptian border who fought against dozens of terrorists in the Gaza Envelope, the areas of southern Israel near the Gaza border.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, May 9, 2024. Photo: Guy Sidi
“For far too many months, weeks, and days, the light has been blocked by the dark shadows of a cloudy sky,” Herzog said at the exhibition’s opening. “And even though the sun seems to keep shining, we wake up to this cruel darkness each morning, which stays with us throughout the day. In this harsh reality, this important exhibition — here, in the Museum of Tolerance — brings such a precious and important voice that must be heard loud and clear.”
Museum of Tolerance CEO Yoni Riss said the testimonies presented in the exhibition are “proof of the strength that the citizens demonstrated” on Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel from Gaza, murdered 1,200 people, and abducted over 250 others amid other mass atrocities against the Israeli people.
“Alongside the great darkness, the shock, and the sorrow, the great light of Israeli society has been revealed. The volunteers, the fighters, the rescue teams, and defense forces — everyone rallied and demonstrated solidarity that gives us hope for the future,” he added.
“06:29- From Darkness to Light” exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. The picture on the wall shows the burnt cars of festival-goers following the attack on the Nova Music Festival. Photo: Guy Sidi
A second exhibition, “Humans of October 7,” opened a day later at the German embassy in Tel Aviv
The ongoing project by photojournalist Erez Kaganovitz is part of a traveling exhibit that will be shown all over the world, including on college campuses such as Harvard, MIT, and Penn State.
It will mark Kaganovitz’s fourth photographic venture in the “Humans” series, after Humans of Israel, Humans of Tel Aviv, and Humans of the Holocaust, all of which received widespread praise in exhibitions globally.
Kaganovitz said he launched the project to “fight back” against rising antisemitism and misconceptions about the Jewish state “by showing the human side of Israel” and to serve as a “reminder of what Israeli society is all about and what we are actually fighting for.”
Haim Jelin, the former head of the Eshkol Regional Council and resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, got the date of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel tattooed on his arm. Photo: Erez Kaganovitz
Among the 30 Israelis featured in the series are survivors of Oct. 7 as well as people who have turned into national heroes, such as Rami Davidian, a farmer who rescued hundreds of people from the Nova festival. “I got into places where the army wouldn’t go — under fire and without weapons or bulletproof vests for protection. I had a goal to save as many people as I could,” he said.
Ruth Haran, Holocaust survivor who also survived Kibbutz Beeri massacre on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Erez Kaganovitz
Another portrait is of Hamid Abu Arar, a Bedouin from Gaza who saved the life of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers after his wife and another passenger in his car were murdered by Hamas terrorists. “I told myself: Hamid, you have to make a snap decision. I grabbed my baby, opened the electric cabinet doors, and ran toward the soldiers. I warned the soldiers that they were walking straight into an ambush,” he said. “If they had advanced five more meters, they would all have been shot dead on the spot. No question about it. It was a miracle that me and my baby survived and that the soldiers were saved.”
In late February, Abu Arar was granted permanent residency status by Israel in light of his heroism.
Hamid Abu Arar. Photo: Erez Kaganovitz
Kaganovitz said he hopes the exhibition will highlight “the unique Israelis who stood up against terrorism.”
“It shows Israeli DNA at its best and the incredible spirit and resilience of the Israeli people,” he told The Algemeiner.
Steffen Seibert, Germany’s ambassador to Israel, praised Kaganovitz for his ability to tell “the human stories behind this tragic day.”
“The 7th of October has left deep wounds in the Israeli psyche. But the courage and solidarity many Israelis have demonstrated during or after this horrific attack also convey a strong message of community and hope,” he said.
The post Photo Essay: In Israel, Two Exhibitions Honor Victims, Heroes of Oct. 7 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says
A closed Israeli military gate stands near Ramallah in the West Bank, February 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after Arab ministers planning to attend were stopped from coming.
The move, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government announced one of the largest expansions of settlements in the West Bank in years, underlined escalating tensions over the issue of international recognition of a future Palestinian state.
Saturday’s meeting comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, that is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood, which Israel fiercely opposes.
The delegation of senior Arab officials due to visit Ramallah – including the Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Bahraini foreign ministers – postponed the visit after “Israel’s obstruction of it,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the block was “a clear breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force.”
The ministers required Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had delayed a planned trip to the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Palestinians want the West Bank territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of a future state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
But the area is now criss-crossed with settlements that have squeezed some 3 million Palestinians into pockets increasingly cut off from each other though a network of military checkpoints.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the announcement this week of 22 new settlements in the West Bank was an “historic moment” for settlements and “a clear message to Macron.” He said recognition of a Palestinian state would be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”
The post Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Armed men hijacked dozens of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip overnight and hundreds of desperate Palestinians joined in to take supplies, local aid groups said on Saturday as officials waited for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals.
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close but Hamas has said it is still studying the latest proposals from his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the proposals.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Saturday, the Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war began 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
At the same time, a separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on the social media platform X.
NO BREAD IN WEEKS
The World Food Program said it brought 77 trucks carrying flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday and all of them were stopped on the way, with food taken by hungry people.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” it said in a statement.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Overnight on Saturday, he said trucks had been stopped by armed groups near Khan Younis as they were headed towards a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and hundreds of desperate people had carried off supplies.
“We could understand that some are driven by hunger and starvation, some may not have eaten bread in several weeks, but we can’t understand armed looting, and it is not acceptable at all,” he said.
Israel says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
The post Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian terrorist group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.
‘A MOCKERY’
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
The post Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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